declared only yesterday by the russians, has already collapsed. it was hoped the daily ceasefire would let aid in, and civilians out. but on day one, civilians among the thousands trapped there say there were more airstrikes from syrian government forces, supported by the russians. president assad and his allies blame the rebels. nearly 400,000 people are trapped in the area, to the east of the syrian capital. they've been under siege from government forces since 2013. this report from our middle east editorjeremy bowen. it was supposed to be a chance to get some aid into eastern ghouta, but the temporary ceasefire, at best, was ragged. no civilians left down the newly designated safe corridors. once again in syria, the russians are setting the pace. this russian officer, stationed in the humanitarian corridor, claimed armed opposition groups were stopping civilians leaving. the day turned into a demonstration of russian power in syria. theirjets were in the sky, and their soldiers, alongside the syrians, were on patrol and they showed off clinics for displaced people. the humanitarian pause was president putin's decision, not the un's. he seems to have put aside the un resolution calling for a 30—day ceasefire. the people of eastern ghouta are being failed by international diplomacy. eastern ghouta is big, about the size of manchester, a mix of farms and concrete suburbs. the 400,000 people there have spent most of the last week in cellars. the russian humanitarian pause won't be enough to silence critics of their military operations in syria. the plan to suspend shelling from 9:00am in the morning to 2:00pm seems to have broken down on the first day. persuading civilians it's safe to leave will be difficult. the un ceasefire is not close to coming into effect. it's supposed to last for 30 days, right across syria. jihadists like al-qaeda are excluded, but the russians have said that all armed opposition groups are terrorists. the ceasefire resolution has no start time, at russian insistence, and that is a fatal flaw. this was eastern ghouta today, filmed by a local resident. humanity, love, asserts itself in the most desperate places. and this was 24 hours earlier. another assertion of humanity, white helmets civil defence risking their lives to rescue children after an air strike. war is the reality in syria. since it started, every ceasefire has failed, and nothing suggests the latest attempt will be any different. jeremy bowen, bbc news. president donald trump's son—in—law, jared kushner, has had his white house security clearance downgraded. until now, jared kushner, described as a senior adviser to the president, had been receiving top—secret security briefings. that won't happen anymore. through a spokesman, he insisted he's done "more than what is expected of him" to gain full clearance. 0ur correspondent, peter bowes, told me there's long been speculation about what exactly jared kushner‘s duties are, and how qualified he is to carry them out. yes, he has no real political experience yet he has been at donald trump's side in the white house ever since he was elected, and he was a majorfigure during the since he was elected, and he was a major figure during the president's election campaign. he has had a key role in foreign policy, especially looking at the middle east and relations with mexico, and up until now, he has had access to those top—secret documents, including the president's daily briefing. we now know that that., and officials seem to be playing this down, actually saying it won't affect his ability to do hisjob. saying it won't affect his ability to do his job. there are still 130 others in the administration who have not got their clearances, including ivanka trump? yes, that was the number we had in november and they are now saying it is in the dozens, and the official spokesperson says it's not uncommon for these security clearances, these background checks, to take so long, but clearly jarod kushner is the most high profile of all of these individuals and the fact he is part of the family as well adds to the intrigue, as far as many people are concerned, and another factor is that he is a central figure concerned, and another factor is that he is a centralfigure in the russia investigation, the investigation into possible —— possible russian meddling in the 2016 election, so you can only think with all of those things going on, it could still be some time before, if he ever, gets that complete security clearance. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the largest cable operator in the united states has made a £31 billion dollar bid to buy the british broadcaster, sky. the offer from com—cast — which owns nbc and universal pictures — is higher than an existing one from rupert murdoch's 21st century fox. fox has a minority stake in sky, and has offered to buy the remainder, but that's opposed by britain's competition watchdog. the funeral of bollywood superstar, sridevi, will be held later, after police closed the investigation into her death in dubai. an autopsy ruled the 54—year—old had drowned in a bath, after losing consciousness. crowds have gathered outside her home in mumbai to pay their last respects ahead of the ceremony. australia has announced a compulsory recall of more than two million cars because of concerns over defective airbags. the vehicles include toyota, mazda, ford and bmw cars which contain takata airbags. the faulty airbags have been linked to more than 20 deaths worldwide — and are thought to have been fitted in 100 million vehicles. much of europe has been covered in snow as a storm nicknamed "the beast from the east" spreads across the continent. parts of southern europe have seen their worst snow in decades. here in the uk, hundreds of schools have been closed and transport has been disrupted. the weather front from russia has brought snow and freezing winds, with temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees. tom burridge takes a look at the picture across europe. for some, it's an excuse to post a quirky video. but for people and animals, it's hard getting around right now in places such as hungary. it's dangerous too, the driver of this lorry in serbia, lucky. he was left hanging in his cabin for two hours before being rescued. even the island of corsica, more associated with sunny, summer holidays woke to this. in brussels, controversial measures to get homeless people off the streets. the authorities say if people refuse to move, the police will detain them and bring them to shelters like this one. "they come here" says this volunteer, and have a bed and paper sheets. "ten people were detained last night and slept here" he says. translation: i realise homeless people really refuse to move. i worked with my colleague this weekend to draft decree to force those people accept accommodation. rome isn't itself either. a fight, not normally witnessed at the coliseum. there hasn't been snow here for six years. further east in cities like bucharest, schools have been closed. there has been major disruption for those travelling by road and by rail. the british government has categorically ruled out any return to a "hard border" between northern ireland and the republic after brexit. it comes after the leak of a letter from the foreign secretary boris johnson to the prime minister in which he appears to contemplate the possibility of future customs border checks after the uk leaves the eu customs union. here's our deputy political editorjohn pienaar. they are the cabinet's true believers. brexit‘s wishful thinking say the critics today, but no, senior ministers agreeing that britain, all of britain and northern ireland, too, will stick together and win, despite all the obstacles and all the doubts. so, today, the international trade secretary said critics were wrong to say that britain should stay in a european customs union and give up the freedom to strike independent trade deals. notjust wrong. we would be in a worse position than we are today. it would be a complete sell—out of britain's national interests and a betrayal of the voters in the referendum. but even before that warning, the critics were joined by the former head of dr fox's own department and free to speak out, he is not holding back. if we go to brussels and say we want access to the single market, but we want it on our terms, all of the benefits and we will decide which obligations, no negotiator in the world can bring you that, you would need a fairy godmother. how would the trade secretary deal with that? is the greatest danger is that brexit could lead to national self harm or are there simply not enough true believers like you? we cannot afford to be bound by the practices and the patterns of the past. we have to take the opportunities available unfettered by those who would make the rules on our behalf. what we need is a hard—headed leader, not a fairy godmother. what else could block the brexit plant? dublin wants a written guarantee of no north— south border checks, even if that means a customs union. tonight, downing street has had to restate, there will be no hard border, after borisjohnson seemed to suggest, in a leaked paper, one might return. even though very few checks need to take place. he is now saying no—one wants border checks, but was it even helpful earlier to compare the border to managing traffic through the congestion charge zone in london? there is no border between camden and westminster, but when i was mayor of london, we visibly took hundreds of millions of pounds from the accounts of people travelling between those two boroughs without any need for border checks, whatsoever... come on, you cannot compare two boroughs of london with the kinds of difference in the arrangements that would be in place between the uk and eu. i think it is a very relevant comparison. either way, the path to brexit is still being mapped out by ministers from theresa may down and it is anything but clear. more than one week after the dapchi schoolgirls' abduction and the fate of the 110 pupils remains unknown. the girls were kidnapped when suspected boko haram jihadists raided their school in north eastern nigeria. the bbc spoke to one of the girls who managed to escape, as laura westbrook reports one week on, and 110 girls taken from their school in dapchi are still missing. after days of confusion and misinformation from the authorities, a clearer picture of what exactly happened is emerging. witnesses said armed men, believed to be boko haram militants, stormed the school in northeastern nigeria and herded the girls into trucks. one of the students who managed to escape spoke to the bbc. translation: i saw them with my own eyes. we initially tried leaving through a school gate, but they blocked us there. so we went back into school and climbed over the fence. but at the gate there were three cars outside. the gunmen stood by the school gate and kept firing into the air. we went back into school and jumped over the fence and run west towards the town of gashua. we were lucky because they took a lot of the girls. it's also been revealed a day before the attack, the army pulled their shoulders from a checkpoint near the school. this, despite the all—girl's college being a large school of nearly 1000 pupils. the president tweeted that a committee has been set up to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction. little comfort to families of the teenage girls, desperately waiting for news. the school in dapchi is 275 kilometres away from the school in chibok, where 276 girls were abducted by boko haram in 2014. that kidnapping sparked a global campaign to get them released. but four years on, more than 100 of the chibok girls are still missing. with another abduction of teenage girls taken from their school, questions are being asked about why more wasn't done to stop this happening again. laura westbrook, bbc news. it could be the red light for diesel cars in germany — a court rules that cities can ban them to protect people from harmful emissions. will other countries follow? prince charles has chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this had its fair share of bullets. a climax in the night outside the gates of mr marcos's sanctuary, malacanang, the name itself symbolising one of the cruelest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. citizens are trying to come to grips with their new freedom. though there is joy and relief today, the scars are everywhere. not for 20 years have locusts been seen in such numbers in this part of africa. some of these swarms have been ten miles long. this is the last time the public will see this pope. very soon, for the sake of the credibility and authority of the next pope, benedict xvi will, in his own words, "be hidden from the world for the rest of his life." this is bbc news. the latest headlines. fighting has continued in the syrian suburb of eastern ghouta — despite plans for a ‘humanitarian pause‘. president trump‘s son—in—law and senior adviser, jared kushner, has had his white house security clearance downgraded. he now won‘t have access to many sensitive documents. let‘s get more on that now. i spoke just now to mark zaid, a national security attorney in washington and asked him how difficult would it be now forjared kushner to do hisjob without access to top secret intelligence briefings. it is very difficult to do. he will not have access to intercepts, to information that will deal with foreign leaders. he cannot be briefed on any type of insight that would lead or contribute to knowledge of these discussions. so it is incredibly difficult for him to do hisjob in the white house, u nless to do hisjob in the white house, unless the president gives him access. it does raise questions as to why he was seeing this secret material already. it raises a big question. interim clearance, essentially temporary clearances, thatis essentially temporary clearances, that is routine in the us, but not at the level of sci, sensitive cock department of information, which is often in the president free. and you haven‘t interim sci clearances personally and i‘ve never seen that in the daily brief, and never lasting more than a year. the white house insists that he will continue to do house insists that he will continue todoa house insists that he will continue to do a very important piece of work. what do you say to that? i'm not sure what to say, actually, to that, but i say to that but i really wish, historically, as we‘ve seen of the us in the last 50 years, that nepotism did not play a role in politics and we didn‘t have family members working in the white house at such high levels. but the fact of the matter is, jared cook and others around him are likely to be caught in the target of the investigation of the special council which is probably why his security clearance has not been fully adjudicated, and that doesn‘t lock like it‘s going to change any time soon. and yet if there are a people in the administration without clearance, perhaps it doesn‘t matter that much? that number has been reduced thanks to general kelly being chief of staff and we don‘t have any measuring ability to tell what it was like in the other white house administrations in the security office. i doubt it was ever at this number. it‘s very unprecedented in that regard. and it raises a lot of questions. people have said, and dan coats, the director of national intelligence said, that he thought the security clearance system was broken. it is not, i‘ve been dealing with the recorder of a century, but what is broken is this white house supplementation of the security systems of the system. germany‘s second biggest city — hamburg — is going to start banning older diesel vehicles from april. a federal court has ruled german cities can stop the most heavily polluting diesel cars from using their streets to tackle air pollution. germany‘s government and its powerful car industry have always opposed a ban. jenny hill reports from hamburg. time to clearup germany‘s dirty secret. on this hamburg street, all but the knew newest diesel cars are to be banned at certain times. it‘s a first for the country, and charlotte‘s delighted. we are worried about our health. i‘ve got heart problems and i realise it‘s getting worse. there are some days, you know, when the pollution is higher than other days and you can really notice it. in court today, an historic moment. the judges can‘t order reluctant cities to impose diesel bans, but the environmental lobby is ready to try. after all, 70 cities regularly exceed eu air pollution targets. translation: there's a whole range of measures — develop public transport, build bike lanes, but they only work in the long—term. we have an acute problem for the population now. the only immediate solutions are a driving ban or lowering the speed limits. more bad publicity for germany‘s beleaguered car manufacturers. diesel sales slumped after the emissions scandal. angela merkel, who opposes diesel bans, widely seen as a bit too close to the industry. "most german cities", she said today, "don‘t exceed pollution levels by much. but, she added, she‘d work closely with those that do. in a country where the car is king, today‘s ruling is controversial. people living along this stretch of road worry that by banning diesel vehicles here, the problem is simply sent elsewhere. those who really want to clean up this country‘s air believe that what‘s needed isn‘t a court decision, but a change in culture. jenny hill, bbc news, hamburg. the man behind some of the best—loved bond films — you only live twice, the spy who loved me and moonraker — has died at the age of 97. lewis gilbert directed more than 40 films in a long career, including alfie and educating rita, both starring michael caine. david silito looks back at his life. that‘s it, that‘s fine. when lewis gilbert took on bond in you only live twice, he was already a director with more than 20 films to his name. he‘d directed orson welles, kenneth moore, dirk bogart, but 007, with its seemingly unlimited budget, was new territory. i‘ve made 25 films and i‘ve never been on a film where this doesn‘t ever come up. if i said today, "look, i want 5,000 people flown in from tokyo", i‘m sure they‘d be flown in, you know. cover up. in the ‘50s, lewis gilbert had made his name with a string of tales of stiff upper lip wartime british valour. and then in the ‘60s, a film that helped define a very different era — alfie. my understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. no, no, no, michael, we're going right. 0n set, he was easy—going, charming, unflappable. the child of music hall performers, he‘d spent his life in show business. and 17 years after alfie, he was reunited with michael caine in educating rita. my god, i thought it was something serious. and after that came shirley valentine. lewis gilbert, a career that reads like a greatest hits of the british film industry. peter debruge — chief film critic for "variety" — magazine says one strand of gilbert‘s career stands out. there is no question that despite having accomplished other credits, james bond is lewis gilbert‘s legacy. he took over the mantle from guy hamilton, the director who passed away a couple of years ago, from goldfinger and four bond movies. lewis gilbert was hired on the heels of alfie, and it‘s funny, your segment is a terrific one and gives a real flavour that something who anyone who deals with bond wrestles with, the actors and directors, ultimately remembered for their association with one of the biggest film franchises of all time. there are those definitive stories british bravery in the second world warand british bravery in the second world war and some definitive british working—class heroes. war and some definitive british working-class heroes. that's right. alfie is the movie he is remembered for and it‘s not necessarily a heroic character but the ultimate cad. and a really modern movie, in 1966, when it was made very little money and included all sorts of touches that really set it apart from of that era and famously when the film industry was looking for new solutions and ways to keep the audience interested while competing with television and other forms of media and just massive changes in the world around it. this is the sexual revolution happening off—screen, and the broccoli family wa nted off—screen, and the broccoli family wanted somebody who seemed to be plugged into that world to bring the flavour to the james bond character. just very briefly, i was looking at what heather stewart, the bfi creative director said, when he was given the fellowship award in 2001. he brought character studies of women we hardly ever got to see on the big screen, and i think she was talking particularly about educating rita and shirley valentine. talking particularly about educating rita and shirley valentinelj talking particularly about educating rita and shirley valentine. i don't know that ultimately those are the films he is remembered for, but it is important in a moment like this do not let his legacy be overshadowed by james bond. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i‘m @bbc mike embley. thank you for watching. the coldest snap this winter season is likely to continue this week when there is more snow in the forecast. snow has been falling in the form of showers but particularly in north—east england, they have pretty impressive snow depths and they are likely to get bigger. the forecast tomorrow will be more travel disruption and a significant wind—chill. this icy front has been coming across from siberia, across northern europe and driving these snow showers across the north sea into eastern areas and some have been pushing west as well. during the start of wednesday, it looks like most of the showers will become confined to northern areas and eastern scotland. a very cold start with temperatures below freezing across the board. an amber warning remains in force for the eastern side of scotland to the central belt of scotland and to north—east england, where there will be five to 15 centimetres. widespread in some areas and we could see more than that on the high ground. there could be significant disruption through wednesday morning for the central belt of scotland and north—east england. the showers will be frequent and heavy. further south, more in the way of sunshine but it will be a very cold air. today will be the coldest of the week. factor in the wind as well and it will feel more like minus five to maybe —10 celsius. so, bitterly cold. on thursday, this low pressure which has been named storm emma by the portuguese weather service will move from the south. full of moisture as it bumps into the cold air across the united kingdom and is likely to turn to snow. initially in southern counties of england, south west england to wales as we head through the course of thursday. there will be further, heavy snow showers across the eastern side of the country, particularly north east england and eastern scotland. two amber warnings by thursday afternoon, one across the northeast and this new one across the south—west and it will be heavy, prolonged and disruptive. another very cold day in store, looking at gale force south—easterly winds which will make you feel very cold indeed. on friday, snow showers continuing across the north—east of the country. this band will move slowly northwards bringing heavy falls and will cause significant disruption. this is bbc news — the headlines... 400,000 civilians are still trapped in the besieged damascus suburb of eastern ghouta — russia‘s promised five—hour daily "humanitarian pause" failed on the first day. the un says it hasn‘t been able to deliver any aid to the rebel—held area, and air strikes have continued. both sides in the syrian civil war have blamed each other. president trump‘s son—in—law and senior adviser, jared kushner, has had his white house security clearance downgraded. he won‘t have access any more to many sensitive documents. his spokesman said it won‘t affect "the very important work he has been assigned by the president". the storm nicknamed "the beast from the east" has swept across much of europe, with record snowfalls and temperatures as low as minus 20 celsius, bringing many cities to a standstill. at least seven people are reported dead since monday — five in poland, two in romania. now on bbc news... time for hardtalk.

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